Neel Jani wins Sprint race: Historic Indian Racing League begins

Irungattukottai (Chennai), 26 Nov 2022: Swiss racing star Neel Jani of Black Birds Hyderabad won the maiden Sprint Race in the inaugural Indian Racing League (IRL) that began here Saturday.

Despite all the teething troubles, the launch of league is a historic milestone in Indian motorsports and it took the meticulous organisation and race management of Madras Motors Sports Club to bring back the morale and image of racing in India. The IRL is expected to be a turning point in offering better prospects and an international platform for the budding Indian racers. 

The 38-year FIA WEC champion and 24h Le Mans winner, Jani, took a commanding lights-to-flag victory that saw a safety-car period and clocked 21minutes, 33.773 seconds for the 12-lap race at the 3.7-km Madras International Circuit here. A celebrated international racer, Jani, started on pole following his teammate and Indian star Akhil Rabindra topping the times in Q1.  Alister Yoong of Malaysia, representing Godspeed Kochi, came second in 21:40.234 and managed to keep Mitchell Gilbert of Speed Demons Delhi behind him in third place. Gilbert clocked 21:40.714. Neel Jani also clocked the fastest lap of the Sprint race 1:31.438. Yoong, a late replacement for Jordan Albert, arrived in Chennai only on Saturday morning and did a creditable job with only 6-lap seat time before he got a fantastic P2. Alister is the son of Malaysia’s first Formula 1 driver, Alex Yoong, whom this reporter had the pleasure of interviewing and covering his debut at Sepang in 2002.

Talented 16-year Bengalurean Ruhaan Alva was the fastest Indian driver in the Sprint race and just missed the podium but did a brilliant job taking fourth after starting from last (P12) on the grid. The multiple National karting champion, who graduated to formula racing only in September 2021, has already won the JK Tyre National Rookie championship. Today, he clocked 21:41.502. Unfortunately, he started from P12 as his fellow driver Fabienne Wohlwend from Liechtenstein, could not set a time in the Qualifying session as her car was not ready in time. The IRL has a different format where Driver A will set the Qualifying position for Driver B and vice-versa for the second Sprint Race.

International racing driver Anshul Gandhi of Bangalore Speedsters came fifth followed by Chennai Turbo Riders’ Nicole Havrda (Canada), the top lady driver today.

Earlier Black Birds Hyderabad dominated the qualifying sessions with Akhil Rabindra topping Q1 while Neel Jani setting the top time in Q2. The race saw a Safety Car period after Bengaluru driver Rishon Rajeev, who was doing well, stalled on the track in the fifth lap. Both the Goa Aces cars later dropped out. Akash Gowda of Speed Demons Delhi also logged a DNF after two laps.

Another Sprint Race and a Feature Race (45-min) will be held on Sunday. The second Round will be held at the same venue (MIC) next Sunday while the third round is scheduled to be held on the Street Circuit in Hyderabad during the second week-end of December. RPPL has not yet confirmed if a fourth round would be held.

IRL, is the brainchild of former Indian racing stars Armaan Ebrahim and Aditya Patel, who formed Racing Promotions Private Limited and later roped in Akhilesh Reddy and Navjeet Gadoke. The duo have visualised a six-team city-based franchise teams for the league, a historic first for motorsports in India. They have also started X1 Racing earlier and IRL is the new avatar. They are also planning to bring Formula Regional Indian Championship and Formula 4 Indian championship in the future.

After a couple of minor incidents, the first round at the Street Circuit in Hyderabad was halted as a precaution due to safety issues after a decision was taken by the race Stewards and FMSCI, the governing body for motorsports as per the FIA safety regulations. However, a round of races in the JK Tyre National Racing championship were successfully held as a supporting race. The Street Circuit, attracted huge crowds and was hailed as a brilliant circuit by all the drivers. If the teething troubles and safety issues were sorted out, the street circuit around the Hussain Sagar lake, which acted a test run, is likely to host a Formula E race in February 2023.

Note: Updated on 27Nov22 at 11am